


For Forever and More

by lady_naomi



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, More Angst than Fluff I'm sorry, adrienette - Freeform, post-reveal, somewhat happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 07:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_naomi/pseuds/lady_naomi
Summary: Luka and Marinette had signed on until death do they part. Adrien and Marinette had signed on for forever and more.





	1. it hurts

Marinette slowly made her way up the familiar path in the cemetery, her footsteps on the hard cement ground being the only audible sound, apart from the pelting raindrops and chirping cicadas. She had walked this same path almost every single day for a full year.

She took a turn, stepping onto the wet grass, feeling her flats sink into the muddy ground.

The sky was a dark charcoal, thunder rumbling faintly in the distance.

She recalled how there was thunder when she accepted the umbrella from him back when they were in Françoise Dupont High School. The memory sent a shiver through her body, and she halted. Calibrating her breathing, she wrapped the blue scarf tighter around her neck and continued walking.

It was only noon, but the sky was so dark, it felt like the darkest of midnights.

Marinette held a bouquet of pink roses in her hands. Pink roses were one of their many inside jokes – it reminded them of the era of obliviousness before they finally decided to reveal their identities to each other. She recalled the awkwardness when Chat Noir had visited the Boulangerie Patisserie on that particular Sunday morning at her father’s behest all those years ago with a pink rose in tow, ready to reject Marinette’s confession of love as his heart belonged to Ladybug.

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly at the vivid memory. It did not hurt so much to think about him as it used to. Marinette preferred remembering the happier times, the better days. Everything before the tragedy that stripped away her joy.

Marinette found herself at the familiar tombstone, his name, birth date and death date engraved on it. A few meaningless words were scrawled below it. She didn’t read them. She didn’t need to. No amount of words could encapsulate the way his kindness, heroism, and love had affected the lives around him. She kneeled before it, placing the bouquet at the edge.

“Hello chaton,” she said softly. She believed with all her heart that Adrien was listening. It was the only way she kept her sanity intact, kept herself strong for her parents and friends.

She was completely alone. Tikki and Plagg felt it best to stay home and give Marinette this moment of privacy. Hawkmoth had mysteriously disappeared after the tragedy, and Paris had not seen an akuma attack since.

“It’s been a year... I miss you,” Marinette’s voice broke as she fought to hold back tears. She only cried here. She managed to keep herself in control everywhere else. Only barely. “I miss going on patrols with you. I miss the way you used to wrap your arms around me, whispering sweet nothings or terrible puns into my ear. I miss the way you would sneak kisses whenever you thought Alya and Nino weren’t looking, even though they were." A small smile appeared on her lips.

_"Marinette," She grinned as she recognized the intoxicating voice. "Come here."_

_"I've got to bring the dessert out," she told Adrien. It was Thanksgiving Day. Everyone was seated around the dining room table of Marinette’s house. It was their tradition to spend the holidays together. She had a tray of macarons in her hand, ready to bring out for their friends, Alya and Nino._

_"It can wait," he said easily. One of his hands slid between hers and the macaron tray and he snatched it away, sliding it onto the side table next to them. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips to hers. She giggled. Her hands moved up to lace through his hair as she tried to bring him closer then he already was. He pressed her so tight against his body her feet lifted off of the ground and onto his. There wasn't even enough room for air to fit between them._

_"PDA much?" Marinette reluctantly pulled away to see Alya and Nino grinning widely at them. She blushed and Adrien chuckled._

_"You did that on purpose," Marinette accused. He just grinned and grabbed the tray of macarons, making his way, unabashed, into the dining room._

Marinette placed one hand along the rounded edge of the gravestone, rubbing her fingers along it as she spoke.

"Your father... I don't even know what to say about him. He refuses to meet anyone. You’re not supposed to outlive your child. I've... tried to talk to him about it. But he just shuts me out and changes the subject. He’s been throwing himself into projects and charity work, especially those which offer previous akuma victims emotional help. He misses you."

_"This couch is perfect," Adrien insisted. The couple were at the furniture store. Marinette’s engagement ring sparkled on her finger. They were going to get married that June and had decided to go to the store to pick out furniture for their new home. Adrien had walked up to the first black, leather couch he saw and sank onto it, deciding this was perfect for their living room._

_"Adrien. It's a black leather couch. It's plain. And it's too expensive. We can get one just like it for a hundred dollars less," Marinette protested._

_"Marinette, come on!" he persisted. "Just sit on it. Sit on it once and you'll want it.”_

_Marinette sighed, rolling her eyes. Might as well humor him. She sank onto the couch next to him. She had to admit, it was comfortable. Adrien wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him, his lips at her ear._

_“It can't be any other couch?" She asked him sceptically._

_"Nope. It has to be this couch." He grinned and shook his head. “And in exchange I’ll let you pick out those ladybug-shaped ceiling lights I saw you eyeing earlier.”_

_"Fine. We'll take it." She surrendered and Adrien cheered triumphantly and pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him and kissing her fiercely._

_"Thanks Bugaboo," he whispered after a moment._

_"Anytime, mon chaton." She grinned and leaned back down to kiss him._

_"Excuse me,” Adrien whirled around and saw a disapproving saleswoman standing in front of them, her eyes narrowed. "Could you please refrain from using the couches inappropriately? If you can't follow the rules, I'm afraid you're going to have to leave."_

_"Sorry ma'am," Adrien said instantly as Marinette blushed. "We were just making sure it was comfortable. You know, for all the different reasons." He winked at the saleswoman and she took a step back in shock. Marinette burst into giggles and buried her head in his shoulder. The couch was at their house the next day._

"I don't think I can ever move on from you Adrien. I know it's what you would want - you would want me to be happy. But I can't be happy with anyone but you. I have our family and our friends. The only thing missing is you. But I know I can't get you back now. You're gone. Forever." Marinette’s voice broke on the last word. Forever seemed so long, like a never-ending black hole.

"Why did you have to leave me?" she demanded. Tears flowed freely down her face. "You said it yourself, we’re a duo. And now I’m alone. It isn't fair." Marinette took a few deep breaths. She was beyond this, she reminded herself. It wasn't Adrien’s fault. It was his time to go and she had to accept that, even if she didn't want to. “I still love you so much. We all do.” She sighed and rubbed her fingers over the flat edge of the stone, letting her fingers dip into the engraving of his name.

“I miss you every single day. I love you just as much as the day I got engaged to you. It hurts... not having you here to hold me. Not having you here to tell me that everything will be okay. I don’t know if everything will ever be okay. I try, Adrien. I’m trying so hard. But life is hard without you. So hard. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Alya and Nino, I would’ve joined you long ago. Do you miss them? Do you miss me?” An angry clap of thunder was her answer. Rain started to fall. The rain mixed with her tears and she could not tell the difference between the salt and the fresh water.

“I’ll tell them,” Marinette promised, “I’ll tell them that you miss them and love them. I know they love you too and they miss you. I would bring them to visit you more often, but I think it will only hurt them. Maybe I’m the only one crazy enough to have conversations with an empty grave.”

The weather was chilly and a zephyr made leaves dance in the wind. Adrien pressed a chaste kiss onto Marinette’s temple and she sighed.

“I’m going to miss this,” Marinette spoke wistfully, her voice muffled by the blue scarf she was sharing with Adrien.

_Adrien tilted his head and snaked an arm around Marinette’s waist, “Mari,” he began as he stopped walking in the middle of the park path. Unfortunately, as they were sharing the scarf, this caused Marinette to lurch forward unceremoniously, producing a choked gasp as the fabric strangled her throat._

_“I’m so sorry!” he spluttered, as Marinette leaned on him and regained her bearings. With a gentle nod of her head signalling to him that she was okay, she motioned for him to continue._

_“What I was trying to say was that we can call each other anytime. You’ll be gone for only two months after all... And that fashion competition in Japan is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you…” he faltered. Marinette looked imploringly at Adrien. Tears started to stream down her lightly freckled cheeks. Adrien, upon realizing, tilted her chin upwards as he scooped away the pearly droplets with his thumb. “There, there,” he murmured soothingly._

_“Sorry,” Marinette hastily turned away and violent rubbed the heels of her hands against her face. “It’s just… what if there’s an akuma attack while I’m gone,” the tears came back, hard and strong, “I don’t want to lose you!” She struggled with her words and started to sob messily._

_Adrien was next to her in a flash, cradling her, and Marinette buried her face in the crook of his neck._

_“No, please don’t say that,” his hands slid down to rest on her hips as they closed the distance between them, lips moving silently with the other, conversing not with words, but actions. “You can leave Paris to me, Rena and Carapace. Maybe even Queen Bee if needed.”_

_“I love you so much,” Adrien whispered, his teeth grazing the soft lobe of her ear and making her shiver deliciously. He caressed her moist cheek and started to lick and bite gently on her neck._

_“Adrien, not... not now,” Marinette was trying very hard to keep the lust out of her voice. “We’re in a park,” she finished lamely and pried him away._

_Adrien gazed into her eyes, lifted her right hand and kissed her engagement ring._

He was so young and so beautiful. She was so in love, so sure of her life. They would defeat Hawkmoth, graduate, and grow old together. But that’s not how it happened. Sometimes things happen that you can never prepare for. Sometimes, things change.

She still remembered when the news came. The memory was perfectly clear and etched deeply in her mind.

_"He can't be gone," Marinette whimpered, my voice cracking. "He can't be."_

_"I know sweetie. It's so hard to believe," she whispered back. “And the fact that he was Chat Noir as well… I can’t imagine how Ladybug is taking the news...”_

_“I should have been there," Marinette told her, as if admitting a great weakness. "I wish I had died too."_

_"Don't say that," Alya snapped, her voice suddenly much sharper. “Adrien would never want you to die. You know that. And I think it would be disrespecting his memory by wasting his sacrifice. He wanted you to live your life and damn it, you’re going to do it!”_

_Marinette just whimpered against her. “I don’t know how... how to live without him. He is my partner, the love of my life.”_

_“It’s going to be hard, Marinette, but you can do it. Adrien believed in you. I do too.”_

_Nino looked at her, giving her a soft nod, silently saying that he understood her grief. Of course it was different – a friend’s love and a lover’s love – but the pain was the same. Crushing. Heart-wrenching. Pain._

Tears continued to slide silently down her cheeks as the rain fell down on her. The wind whipped her hair around her face, tangling and tossing the scent of roses into her face. She began to shiver from the cold. She sighed and pressed both of her palms against the gravestone.

“I promise to love you forever, Adrien. Long past death. And I don’t plan on going back on my word. I miss you every day. And I love you.” A flash of lightning lit up the sky behind her and she smiled. “I know you love me too,” she whispered. She pressed her lips to the hard, cold stone.

“Goodbye Adrien,” she said lightly as she got up on her feet. As she walked away, another rumble of thunder shook the ground. A smile spread across her lips as she made her way to her home – their home, footsteps echoing in the stormy night.


	2. but i know we will be happy again

Marinette lived a long, wonderful life, just like he would have wanted. She fell in love, got married, had children, grandchildren. She did everything he wanted her to do. She owned a successful fashion line and learned singing and was happy. Mostly. But how could anyone expect her to ever truly be happy?

After knowing happiness and love – true, ineffable love – how can anything else be compared to it?

Don’t get her wrong – She loved her husband. But he could never replace her real love. Marinette hated to admit it, but Luka would never be her first choice. Luka had no idea about her true love. Her Adrien. Her chaton.

They were, after all, yin and yang. They were each other’s trusted partner, each other’s perfect match. Until they weren’t.

She curled up in bed, her bones aching in protest. She glanced at her nightstand. There were so many pictures. Marinette and Luka on their wedding day. She was in a beautiful white gown she had designed herself, and he looked so handsome yet adorably uncomfortable in his black tuxedo. Everyone said they looked like they were made for each other. Even on that day, however, she couldn’t help but wish it was a different face she was walking down the aisle towards.

There were several photo frames featuring the family she created with Luka. Marinette had a girl and two boys, just as she had always wanted. Her dearest children – Emma, Louis, and Hugo.

So many pictures. So many memories. But not a single picture of him. Marinette had kept his story secret from everyone. Only her old friends knew. But they knew better than to speak of it. They knew how much it still hurt. Even after all these years.

"How could you go?" Marinette whimpered. No one was home. She was completely alone—more alone than I'd ever felt before. "You promised me. You promised you'd never leave me. But you lied. I tried to live, I tried so hard. And I did. But I was never happy. Never as happy as I knew I could be. With you." She broke down in sobs, her chest aching with every moan of pain.

Whoever said time heals all wounds has never known true pain. It doesn't get better in time. The pain isn't as consuming—you're able to feel other things, love, anger, happiness—but you're never completely healed. The pain is always there. Whenever you have a vulnerable moment, it's there, taunting you, haunting you. It never goes away. Even after the waves of time, it never goes away.

_Marinette was seated on one of the many benches lining the Seine, adding some finishing touches to a design she had been working on for the past few days._

_It had been five years since the tragedy. She didn’t date. She didn’t go to parties. She barely had friends. Alya understood why she never wanted to go out or have fun, and was always checking up on her to ensure she had some company once in a while._

_With her sketchbook and pencils in tow, Marinette stood up, not paying attention to where she was going, and failed to notice in time that she was about to walk into someone. The two collided head on, sending her tumbling backwards._

_“I’m so sorry,” the stranger said apologetically, holding out a hand. It had been so long since anyone had touched her, even in the most innocent of ways. But somehow she just knew that this man could be trusted. Marinette took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet._

_He was tall with blue eyes and medium-length black hair that had teal blue tips. He was probably good-looking to someone who wasn’t biased. No one could live up to Adrien’s beauty._

_“It’s fine,” Marinette heard herself say, her voice flat and dead. The man looked a little surprised when he heard it._

_“I should’ve paid better attention to where I was going,” he apologised again. “My bad.”_

_“I wasn’t looking. I’m sorry,” she replied, making a conscious effort to inject some emotions into her voice._

_“Listen… can I make it up to you? Do you want to go out for a meal sometime?” he rubbed the back of his neck, and she noticed he had a guitar bag slung on his shoulder._

_The ‘no’ was ready on Marinette’s lips. It was her automatic response. But then she saw something that made her freeze._

_Adrien._

_He was standing a few feet behind the man who had knocked me over, his face expressionless. The world froze. She forgot about the man in front of her. She forgot about the deadlines she had to meet. Adrien was here._

_But how was that possible? A ghost? Maybe she had finally gone insane. She didn’t care. She’d gladly take it. He hadn’t lost any of his beauty. His eyes still sparkled like glittering suns, his hair was still that uniquely beautiful blonde shade._

_As Marinette watched him, still frozen, he smiled. That gentle, yet slightly playful smile. A smile telling her that everything was okay. And he nodded once._

_He turned and she wanted to yell out to him._

_“Don’t go!” she wanted to scream. “Don’t leave me. Not again.”_

_But before the words could escape her mouth, he was already gone._

_“What do you say?” the man asked, clearly nervous._

_Marinette thought about what had just transpired – maybe it was all in her head. Or maybe Adrien was sending her a sign, telling her this this was the man he wanted her to be with._

_Either way, the next word out of Marinette’s mouth surprised her._

_“Sure.”_

They got married two years later, had their first child a year after the wedding. Luka was a nice man, and Marinette loved him dearly. But her love for him was greatly overshadowed by a much stronger, more powerful love. A love that could never be forgotten. A love that no one would ever want to forget.

Marinette never told her husband about Adrien. Luka asked about previous relationships, and she told him that she had one but it didn’t work out. He didn’t question further. He had a gift for reading emotions, and he knew she couldn’t talk about it. Adrien stayed locked up tight in her heart.

Luka and Marinette had signed on until death do they part. Adrien and Marinette had signed on for forever and more. Marinette was ready – more than ready – to join him again. And she knew this was the time. The moment she had been begging for since that fateful day so many years ago. She could feel the last edges of life as they slowly drifted away from her.

And then suddenly, she wasn’t anywhere. She wasn’t in her bedroom, or anywhere recognisable. It was just a beautiful place filled with wondrous works of art, with intricate designs decorating the walls and floors.

And she wasn’t herself. At least, not how she was just minutes ago. She was young and beautiful again, donning a light pink sundress.

“Marinette?”

She whirled around.

And there stood Adrien. Her beautiful, perfect angel.

“Adrien,” I whispered. His name was strange on her tongue, and yet so familiar. She hadn’t said his name in years, after all. Only in her thoughts. Hearing it roll of her tongue felt so liberating. “My chaton.”

“Marinette,” he whispered again, his face breaking into a beautiful smile. She launched herself at him. His arms wrapped around her, lifting her off the floor and she wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him with as much passion as she had in her petite frame. She could feel him laughing against her lips.

“Marinette. My lady. Bugaboo. I love you. I love you so much,” he breathed in between the kisses, sounding just as enthused as she was. She wanted to cry with joy, but there were no tears. Only laughter, breathless and blissful laugher.

“I never, ever stopped loving you and you better not leave me again,” Marinette told him, still planting kisses on whatever skin she could reach.

“Never,” he promised. “We have forever and ever and ever. Just us. Just me and you. No one else matters.”

“No one,” she agreed in a heartbeat. She knew her husband would be happy, her children and grandchildren. They would find their Heaven, just as she found hers.

“I love you,” he repeated. He pulled her face away from his so he could look at her, his eyes drinking her in. She did the same to him, drawing in the familiar features that she had missed so much – the sparkling eyes, the straight nose, high cheekbones and messy blonde hair.

“I love you too.”

And then he smiled that gentle yet cheeky smile. And she was home.


End file.
